On Monday, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that the state’s three-drug method of execution of death row inmates is constitutional. The ruling by Judge Stephen Friot comes after a federal trial in which attorneys of 28 death row inmates argued that the method causes suffering and violates the eighth amendment of the US constitution that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The attorneys argued that Midazolam, the first of the three drugs to be administered is inadequate to render a person unable to feel pain.
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As per James Stronski one of the attorneys if inmates aren’t properly anaesthetised, they would effectively be paralysed; unable to move or speak after the second injection is administered, but that they would still feel excruciating pain from the final drug Potassium Chloride that stops the heart.
“If this is allowed to continue…this is a 21st century burning at the stake,” he said.
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However, the judge ruling, citing three earlier rulings on the death penalty said “the prerequisites of a successful lethal injection challenge under the Eighth Amendment have been made clear by the Supreme Court,” adding that “the plaintiff inmates have fallen well short of clearing the bar set by the Supreme Court.”
State attorneys also rejected the plaintiff’s argument and said that the prescribed 500-milligram dose is more than enough to ensure that inmates don’t feel any pain.
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Jennifer Moreno, one of the attorneys representing death row inmates said that they are assessing their options for an appeal to the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals, Denver.
“The district court’s decision ignores the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Oklahoma’s execution protocol, both as written and as implemented, creates an unacceptable risk that prisoners will experience severe pain and suffering,” Moreno said in a statement.
(With inputs from agencies)
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